A collection of small-town stereotypes, predictable comedy, and inexplicably bizarre characters.
It’s Christmastime and Maynard (Michael Shannon) comes home from work early one afternoon to find his wife (Christina Hendricks) and the sheriff (Ron Perlman) dressed in animal costumes and dry humping in the bedroom. Maynard doesn’t know what to think and, in a drunken stupor, he creates a makeshift gorilla costume out of a hunter’s ghillie suit and a Halloween mask and then passes out. Or, so he thinks.
The next morning, Maynard awakens to a Pottersville caught up in Bigfoot-mania. Multiple sightings of the legendary creature have been reported all over town. Soon, visitors are pouring into the impoverished town and an economic boom is in force. Before Maynard can own up to his drunken mistake, a cable TV host (Thomas Lennon) arrives to film the beast and throws the town’s madness into overdrive.
Pottersville features an excellent cast and a promising premise. Unfortunately, the script by Daniel Meyer seems determined to avoid a consistent tone. What could have been a scathing parody of shows like Finding Bigfoot or a uniquely off-kilter Christmas movie manages only to be a collection of small-town stereotypes, predictable comedy, and inexplicably bizarre characters. The most frustrating aspect of the film is the occasional (accidental?) flash of brilliance that promises the film will eventually right itself. (For example, a scene that parodies Jaws is quite funny.) That turnaround never happens.
Michael Shannon, who is known for portraying offbeat characters, delivers a performance that is the film’s most consistent and redeeming feature. Judy Greer, who plays Parker, his possible romantic interest, is likable enough but her character suffers from the script’s tonal schizophrenia. Even when viewed as a failed attempt at a Hallmark Channel Christmas comedy, Pottersville confounds expectations by including a running gag involving furry subculture.
Pottersville is best summed up as a movie that, on paper, sounds like it could be a classic but that seems to go out of its way to disappoint at every opportunity.
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Buy on Amazon!
